madness

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: B2 — Upper-Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

noun obsolete terms for legal insanity
noun an acute viral disease of the nervous system of warm-blooded animals (usually transmitted by the bite of a rabid animal); rabies is fatal if the virus reaches the brain
noun a feeling of intense anger

From Middle English madnes, madnesse; equivalent to mad + -ness.

And a queer madness too! — The Return of Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle
Madness has brought thee here. — Four Arthurian Romances, de Troyes, active 12th century Chrétien
“It seems to me all madness--madness! — Ann Veronica: A Modern Love Story, H. G. (Herbert George) Wells

lunacy, insaneness

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